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Fall Guys circulated around 10 publishers before Devolver jumped on it

Devolver Digital took a chance on Fall Guys that's now paying some very handsome dividends for the publisher.

Brittany Vincent

August 21, 2020 9:20 AM

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Before Fall Guys became one of the biggest topics of conversation in the game industry, its creators were seeking funding for their project.

In the early days of Fall Guys' short existence, Mediatonic had been searching for a publisher that would take an interest in their quirky game to no avail. In a recent Twitter thread, creative director Jeff Tanton looked back on how the team had a difficult time convincing any publisher to fund the game, if you can believe that.

Fall Guys by @mediatonic has been out two weeks now and in that time has smashed our modest, and then wildest expectations of success.

This is how the initial @gosujoe pitch came about and why this moment means so much pic.twitter.com/7F2WCzLHzc

— Jeff Tanton (@Jeff_Tanton) August 20, 2020

Tanton notes that Fall Guys was shopped around to at least ten different publishers before it ended up landing at a Devolver Digital, who agreed to fund the game following its lengthy circulation around others at GDC 2018. Once Devolver stepped in to assist, development began around six months later.

The game wasn't always called Fall Guys, but Mediatonic always wanted it to be a mixture of battle royale challenges crossed with a theme inspired by the Japanese game show Takeshi's Castle. Back then, it went by the name "Fool's Gauntlet." It went through several name changes, including "Stumble Chums," before the team decided on Fall Guys.

What about the adorable little beans you play as? Those can be credited to principal concept artist Dan Hoang, who came up with their initial design. While the team focused on creating challenging courses at first, Mediatonic realized that the beans themselves were actually part of what would draw in players.

Now, the game is enjoying immense success. Perhaps those other publishers should have taken their shot when they had the chance. It's guaranteed they're kicking themselves right about now. 

Brittany Vincent

Senior Editor

Fueled by horror, rainbow-sugar-pixel-rushes, and video games, Brittany is a Senior Editor at Shacknews who thrives on surrealism and ultraviolence. Follow her on Twitter @MolotovCupcake and check out her portfolio for more. Like a fabulous shooter once said, get psyched!